Government plans to increase teacher pay ‘could lead to a cut in real terms’

THE Government’s plans to increase teacher pay could lead to a cut in real terms, according to new analysis.

Last week, the Government called for teacher starting salaries to rise by more than 16 per cent over the next two years, to bring them up to £30,000 by September 2023, which would fulfil one of the 2019 manifesto promises.

The DFE said in its submission to the School Teacher Review Body (STRB) that it wanted statutory starting pay to increase by 8.9% this year and 7.1% next year.

But the proposed increases for more experienced teachers are lower, with increases of 3% in 2022 and 2% in 2023, equating to an average rise of just under 4% across all teachers, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) calculated.

The IFS said that given rising levels of inflation, the proposals for teacher pay would see a real terms cut of 5% for more experienced staff between 2021 and 2023, although starting salaries would rise by 5% in real terms.

And as there has been a decade of real terms cuts to pay, the IFS said that this is the equivalent of a 14% pay cut in real terms between 2010 and 2023 for experienced teachers.

For those at the top of the pay scale, equating to around a third of classroom teachers, this is equal to a pay cut from £46,000 to £39,000.

The IFS analysis suggested that the real terms cut could be even worse, as there was “huge uncertainty about what the actual level of inflation will be”.

Its research argues that higher pay rises would be affordable under the existing school funding settlement.

“A higher average pay award of 5% for teachers in 2022 (and 7% for other staff) seems affordable in the context of a £4 billion rise in school funding in 2022-23,” the IFS said.

Luke Sibieta, of the IFS, said: “The Government’s proposals for teacher pay would enable them to deliver on a manifesto commitment to raise starting salaries to £30,000. However, smaller pay rises of 2-3% per year for most other teachers are likely to represent real-terms cuts.”.